Phil and Paul

[Ruby United]

They are rubbish!!!

 

[Galic Ho]

Phil calls what he wants to see or what he can see, not what actually happens.

Oh I know ACF. Paul saved his bacon so many times tonight. Apparently 28 seconds down is now 'over a minute down' for Radioshack.

Phil is too senile to keep going. Paul...put someone new on with him, maybe Matt Keenan and it will improve. Though I cannot stand Keenan's pronunciation of riders names. I once heard him say Vinokourov three different ways in a little over a minute. At least he can identify riders.

 

[richard_91]

Oh I know ACF. Paul saved his bacon so many times tonight. Apparently 28 seconds down is now 'over a minute down' for Radioshack.

This actually me laugh out loud

 

[TheBean]

So your tune was blah blah blah, I am a fanboy, I want their number, please get it for me Race Radio?

You forgot to say please. I never thought there would be anything worse than Sky and Armstrong fanboys. I was wrong. Liggett and Sherwen supporters. The truly Lost and Damned.

Not at all, Galic.

My tune is: If you don't like what is on your TV, then turn the channel, mute the audio, or turn the whole thing off completely.

I don't have any desire to give either of them a call on the phone, but i did anjoy having a few pints of beer with them when they were in town helping to promote a friend's bike shop. They were a couple of genuinely nice and humble guys who seemed truly wnthusiastic about cycling and appreciative of the opportunities they have had.

Perhaps this thread would be better called the "We hate P & P thread and anyone who says otherwise will be told they deserve hellfire and damnation".

If that were the case I would have kept my positive thoughts about those two guys to myself.

 

[Afrank]

Not at all, Galic.

My tune is: If you don't like what is on your TV, then turn the channel, mute the audio, or turn the whole thing off completely.

Perhaps this thread would be better called the "We hate P & P thread and anyone who says otherwise will be told they deserve hellfire and damnation".

And most of us most likely do mute them when they get really unbearable. But that doesn't mean there's something wrong with calling them out on the mistakes they make or the blatant lying and rumor spreading (in Phil's case with what he said about USADA and Armstrong).

My opinion on them, I treat them as a comedy routine.

 

[therealtimshady]

Oh I know ACF. Paul saved his bacon so many times tonight. Apparently 28 seconds down is now 'over a minute down' for Radioshack.

Phil is too senile to keep going. Paul...put someone new on with him, maybe Matt Keenan and it will improve. Though I cannot stand Keenan's pronunciation of riders names. I once heard him say Vinokourov three different ways in a little over a minute. At least he can identify riders.

Matt keenans voice is so irritating that its pointless listening to him

 

[UpTheRoad]

What is really needed is to get 'Doc' Emrick interested in cycling. Problem solved.

 

[rzombie1988]

OK, then. They withheld information that would have turned viewers away.

Would you have preferred they opened with a comment such as:

"Welcome to our Tour coverage for today. We all know Armstrong is using illegal performance enhancing drugs as are most of his major rivals, if not all of them. We'd like to take a moment to explain how clueless our sponsors are for investing in this enormous fraud and how clueless you viewers are for believing that anything you are about to watch is even remotely possible without a sophisticated doping program complete with illegal international drug trafficking, quack doctors, incredible financial investments, and a rolling clinic for illegal transfusions. And now the lads are passing out of the neutral start, let's hope their toxic sweat doesn't eat away at the tarmac too badly as this rolling farce of a race makes fools out of you all. Better to turn off this broadcast now and save yourselves from this idiocy."

I would really enjoy this intro, but it needs more insults. Phil and Paul also have to use their serious voices and I want to hear Phil call all of it "shenanigans" ala Michael Rasmussen from 2007.

 

[climber_corbin]

Their mistakes are not excusable, but more inexcusable are the strange words the Paul spouts from his mouth - often when if he just slowly said them, would come out correctly. Examples so far include:

Stage 1:
'there's hardly a breeze in the air'

Stage 2:
'mountain man rider'
'screaming like a manio' (maniac?)
'very biggly built sprinter'
'a fair plair of clean wheels'
the roads are straiting out a bit'
'a new team kit must be announced to the world championships (world's media?)
'Kristoffssen' (Kristoff?)

Stage 3:
'Everyone has to give it full on'

Stage 4:
'reaching over 60km/hr - that's 44mph'
'the time difference between the teams is so closely matched'
'calculate the exect (exact?) time'

Yes, I am a sad human being recording all these, but it makes me laugh. I've prepared my tally for how many times Paul mentions 'slap in the face.'

Just to add to Phil's mistakes: Lars Petter Nordhaug was called Lars Boom for most of the final climb on stage 3, and when Tom Veelers attacked at the end of stage 3, Phil just punted at Frolingher.

 

[willbick]

Great selection Corbin. Paul also made a comment along the lines of 'holding no bars' i think yesterday. Presumably he was attempting his own 'Sherwinized' version of 'no holds barred'!!

 

[willbick]

Ps i wish someone would give Sherwin a kph/mph conversion chart. He always gets it completely wrong!!

Oh yeah, 'professional bike rider' - thats one of his favourites!!

 

[valentius borealis]

Did I just hear Paul say that Hushovd still rides for Garmin?

It seemed that Contador was riding for Movistar at one point.

 

[UpTheRoad]

It's not as bad as when it was during the heyday of "a certain Lance Armstrong" but we've already had "a certain Bradley Wiggins" and "a certain Cadel Evans" so far this TdF.

And I hear that they have already programmed their Jens Voigt commentary. He didn't get away the other day, but until he was caught in his breakaway attempt we got the Jens treatment.

I will admit, the story of Bakelants and the "Shut up, legs" was good to share.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

I'm just curious, and I'm not trying to defend them, but just to play Devil's Advocate, have any of you actually been behind a microphone broadcasting a sporting event? I have, and trust me, it isn't easy. At all.

While I don't think Phil and Paul are particularly good (or even adequate), I do think it needs to be recognized that their job is EXTREMELY difficult.

What I'd really like is Matthew Keenan paired with, say, Daniel Lloyd, but I'd also like to win Powerball one of these days, and I don't forsee that happening.

 

[TheBean]

My opinion on them, I treat them as a comedy routine.

Amen, Frank. After all, it's entertainment that we choose to watch. Really, what is more entertaining that a three-ring circus? And, what good is a circus without a couple of clowns?

I was laughing my *** off when Paul was talking about how melting snow-caps can make little streams and that those streams sometimes make little mountain ponds that are very pretty. My non-cycling enthusiast friends were looking at me as if I were a lunatic when I was in hysterics over that rambling of Paul's.

As for Phil, we all get a first-hand insight to the effects of aging on a person's inability to see the obvious (such as Sagan getting beaten to the line by Gerrans) and memory (knowing which team employs which rider). If we don't laugh at the clownish spectacle we either become sad or, as seems to be the case for many who post here, enraged and bitter.

 

[willbick]

To be fair its a difficult balance between several factors like
1 being a recognisable voice and having the gravitus of a long career behind the mic
2 being able to make it accessible to the casual 'once a year' cycling viewer
3 being able to waffle on for several hours without drying up
4 accurately describing the cycling action

There's never gonna be 1 or even 2 comms who can fulfill all these criteria and more to perfection so its always gonna be a compromise. However, the thought of another few years of an increasingly aged (he is great for his age tbf) and out of touch Liggett is pretty frightening!

 

[winkybiker]

Also the the stage to Ajaccio, Sylvain Chavanel was identified as Niki Terpstra, Gautier was identified as Voeckler, and Juan Antonio Flecha was identified as Thomas de Gendt. On the stage to Calvi, Phil had trouble with the Euskaltel riders a couple of times.

And Gautier was briefly identified (by Phil) as Cyril Guimard. Now that's showing his age.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Did anyone notice that after the stage when handshakes were being given that Phil identified Hinault, then Merckx, then said in the center of the picture was Raymond Poulidor, the man who beat Merckx and won the Tour in 1975 & 1977.

Needless to say, Thevenet was the man standing there. Doesn't take a historian to know about Poulidor's past. But it does take someone with some sense.

 

[jens_attacks]

i thought i saw poupou on the stage so phil might be half right on this one

 

[DirtyWorks]

While I don't think Phil and Paul are particularly good (or even adequate), I do think it needs to be recognized that their job is EXTREMELY difficult.

You are right, it's not easy. No one is saying it is easy. A casual watcher probably won't notice the because they voice over with an authoritative tone that just lets the mistakes pass.

It's that the mistakes are spectacular. It's why I visit this thread. Thevenet and Guimard references are comedy gold! No, I won't listen to them waiting for the mistakes. Unbearable.

 

[InterestedSpectator]

I just think it's essential to have a Brummy voice on cycling event commentary. It would not sound like cycling to me otherwise. Give them a break, I'm a contented viewer.

 

[Big Doopie]

I agree that Armstrong was an enormous fraud. An argument could be made that pro racing, in general, was a fraud during those years - and maybe it still is.

But, to make the accusation that the commentators are somehow guilty of a crime for commentating seems a bit outlandish.

Should the execs at Vs. and NBC also be held accountable?

Should the Postmaster General of the USA be held accountable?

Should every bike shop owner who had a poster of Lance up in their shop be held accountable?

The execs at Sports Illustrated for making Lance their sportsman of the year?

The list of people who made money as a direct result of the growing popularity of cycling, and specifically the TdF is very long. But, they are not all criminals for promoting the popularity of Armstrong to increase their profits.

As a viewer of the Tour on your television, you were counted in the Nielson ratings for that program, thus you increased the value of the marketing time slots for that program leading to an increase in profits for Phil, Paul, AND Lance. Does that make you an accomplice or an accessory to a crime?

When you get right down to it, they are just a couple of guys who get paid to talk during bike races. Like Cosell, Costas, Musburger, and every other sports announcer, they are guys who have landed dream jobs - complete with front row seats, back-stage passes, paid travel to the best events, and probably some pretty good catering.

It'snot a crime for them to promote the events and the stars of those events in order to increase viewership and revenue. It's their job description.

Again, if you don't like them you can turn them off or mute them. If you turn them off, you are voting for change via your discontinued ratings support. It's that simple.

Um. I'm not talking about their commentating that is horrendously ignorant of all things cycling.

I'm talking about how they were actively in business selling their videos etc, videos that knowingly defrauded the public. They made gobs of money knowingly promoting a fraud.

They should be in prison.

Do u even know that Paul was pr man for Motorola in 1996 when Armstrong was seeing Ferrari and doped to the gills to win 5 stages of the tour DuPont...

Seriously, get a clue, they made tons of money ramming down our throats a complete fraud.

It has nothing to do with their commentating skills. Though for that too it could be argued they should be incarcerated.

 

[TheBean]

Um. I'm not talking about their commentating that is horrendously ignorant of all things cycling.

I'm talking about how they were actively in business selling their videos etc, videos that knowingly defrauded the public. They made gobs of money knowingly promoting a fraud.

They should be in prison.

Do u even know that Paul was pr man for Motorola in 1996 when Armstrong was seeing Ferrari and doped to the gills to win 5 stages of the tour DuPont...

Seriously, get a clue, they made tons of money ramming down our throats a complete fraud.

It has nothing to do with their commentating skills. Though for that too it could be argued they should be incarcerated.

Then go for it. If you are an American, you have the right to call the district attorney and report a crime. The DA will conduct an investigation based on the evidence you present. If you are an American and you believe a crime has occurred, this is your civic duty.

Failure to report a crime you think has been committed is actually a crime of negligence. I would not want your conscience to have to deal with the fact that you are knowingly allowing criminals to go unprosecuted.

As they say, poop or get off the pot. Ceaseless whining about things isn't going to bring these criminals to justice. Only YOU can make the difference you desire.

 

[Boeing]

and Bob...


Roll said today of Froome and Porte " they are probably are the only riders not totally exhausted at this point in the tour".

You don't say? He even chuckled after he said it as if he knows something we don't. Hmmmmm. Slip

 

[Race Radio]

OK, then. They withheld information that would have turned viewers away.

Would you have preferred they opened with a comment such as:

"Welcome to our Tour coverage for today. We all know Armstrong is using illegal performance enhancing drugs as are most of his major rivals, if not all of them. We'd like to take a moment to explain how clueless our sponsors are for investing in this enormous fraud and how clueless you viewers are for believing that anything you are about to watch is even remotely possible without a sophisticated doping program complete with illegal international drug trafficking, quack doctors, incredible financial investments, and a rolling clinic for illegal transfusions. And now the lads are passing out of the neutral start, let's hope their toxic sweat doesn't eat away at the tarmac too badly as this rolling farce of a race makes fools out of you all. Better to turn off this broadcast now and save yourselves from this idiocy."

For one, I prefer their blind eye about suspected - or widely known - doping and their ramblings about local architecture, spotty accuracy about who is who, while they emphasize all that is fun and beautiful in this sport that we all clearly enjoy.

Most people, when faced with a choice of sticking to the company line and earning a godo paycheck or biting the hand that feeds would make the same decision they did, and still do.

From the posts in this thread, it is obvious that they are not so terrible that people have stopped tuning in for more.

It is clear to most who have been following the sport for a while that ignoring the issue and pretending it does not exist made the problem worse, much worse.

Phil and Paul were enablers. If they, and others in the media, had questioned instead of enabling the sport would have been able to to address these issues a decade ago instead of today